Thank you!

I am overwhelmed at the outpouring of love from my readers in my post about the loss of my grandmother last week {here}.

Your words and encouragement lifted my spirits immediately.

You reminded me that I am a part of such an amazing group of talented and caring women.

Although my grandmother lived a very long and happy life, it's never easy to lose a loved one.

Just a reminder for all of us:

Life is short, God's way of encouraging a bit of focus.

~ Robert Brault

Thank you for your love and support!

xo~

T

A sweet life...

...ended today.

My sweet grandmother Gretchen was born on May 12, 1910 and she passed today, February 25, 2011. We celebrated her 100th Birthday in Denver last year {here}. At our 'White family reunion' here in Houston in 2005.
She was such a good soul and a fun lady. My grandfather died in his 60s, after which she travelled the world alone, played bridge and kept busy with all of her lady friends.

My sisters and I used to take turns having sleep overs at her house back when we were really little. She'd always drive us to Woolworth's to pick out a toy to have at her house for the weekend. I would always pick a barbie or a doll, then I'd put my grandmother to work on sewing my doll some clothes during the weekend. I haven't seen her since last May which makes me sad. She was always such a healthy lady and would you believe, no cancer, ever?!! We always said we thought she would just pass quietly in her sleep some night. Her heart stopped at 3:10am this morning, while she was sleeping peacefully.

My dad will be welcoming her in heaven today, along with my other grandparents and grandpa Stu, her husband. I've lost 2 loved ones since living in Houston and I just realized that on both days that they were passing up to heaven, the skies here were/are crystal clear and bright blue (not the norm in Houston). Thank you God for blessing me with my family and for taking them before they had to suffer for too long with illness on this earth.

If you live near your grandparents please visit them this weekend and give them a big hug for me. ☺

Perhaps they are not stars, but rather openings in heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through and shines down upon us to let us know they are happy.
Eskimo Proverb quote

xo~

T

Cancun

I'm back!

I think the Cancun sun, ocean breeze, and relaxation was good for me. Getting up early to run and getting out of the house on time with NO yelling and screaming has been easy so far this week. ☺

Lisa and T

There was lots of inside jokes and laughing fits,
lots of long~armed pictures of ourselves,
and LOTS of much needed R&R.

Pure heaven for both of us. Drinky Drinky

Like my photo collection of doors in Italy, here is an array of drinks in Mexico, ha! We didn't get wild and crazy by any means, but we did enjoy a few adult beverages during our long weekend.
There were some people getting wild and crazy on the beach in the late afternoons. Check out the party going on in the roped off area complete with a DJ mixing loud house music and lots of dancing in bikinis and speedos {yikes!}. It was actually a pretty fun scene to watch.
We were in bed by 10pm every night and up at 630am to work out and assume our positions on the beach. The hotel spa was offering deals on 25 min massages every evening so we treated ourselves to those a couple of times.
I had fun collecting shells and even found a few bigger pieces of coral to bring home.
The Hotel

The ME by Melia was fantastic and I would recommend it to anyone traveling to Cancun. It's got the vibe of a W hotel, but is all inclusive. Very clean and modern decor with delicious food and great service. Things are slow of course, but that's Mexico.

Ah, the beach

The colors were absolutely incredible...light, light powder sand and 4 shades of aqua in the water. The skies were blue with puffy white clouds and the breeze was steady.

{click on photo to expand and see the cute mermaid in the sand} Truth be told, my hubby wasn't too keen on us going to Mexico with all of the crime and murders going on down there so I was a bit nervous. We were sure to leave all valuables at home and stay on our property the entire time. We had car service set up to pick us up and return us to the airport. We did venture out once, across the street to a higher end shopping area in the afternoon and felt perfectly safe.

Cancun is supposedly the safest city in Mexico, but upon returning to Houston a customs official told me that all resort towns are dangerous at this point.


I'm so thankful that we had a safe and peaceful getaway.

Now back to the daily grind~ but with much more patience and ease. ☺

Happy...

...Monday

xo~

T

la playa

My toenails are painted and my bag is packed.
I'm headed away for a long weekend to a warm, sunny place, where I can sink my freshly painted toes in the sand and squeeze my pale body into a bikini {eek!}.

My girlfriend Lisa and I weren't able to re-book this trip just yet, so Cancun it is for now.

We are both in desperate need of time to unplug and decompress. Thankfully we both have loving husbands who support us in this quest. Of course I'm miss my little family, but I think they'll appreciate me more when I return a bit less frazzled and well rested.
Cheers~
{that's an Edward Cullen doll hanging from Lisa's champagne flute...trust me, you don't want to know}

Have a great weekend everyone!

T

image sources: pinterest, trip advisor, moi

*Pride*

It sounds like most of you had beautiful weather this past weekend, as we did here in Houston. Our weekend was packed full of events kicking off the girls' softball season.

It started with a father~daughter dance on Friday night. Dinner with her 'besties' on the block and their daddies, then to the dance. They boogied down for a couple of hours and kept texting me photos of my 6 year old with flushed cheeks and wild hair. Just another Friday night out on the town dining and clubbing with daddy. ☺

Prior to the dance she kept saying "I don't want to dance with daddy", but once they got there she wouldn't let him step foot off the dance floor. I wish I could have seen it.

The softball parade was held on Saturday morning. It was a small-town event where the big parade literally covered just 2 blocks in the West U neighborhood, but it was too cute.


The parade was followed by a carnival, all to kick off the softball season.

This is our first go at team sports for our daughter and so far, so good. To see the transition from the tearful night before softball tryouts, to the determined look on her face out on the field is truly rewarding. It's such a neat feeling of pride to see your child grow and move beyond fear and insecurity to really begin to enjoy something new. She hasn't even gotten to know the other girls on the team yet but she's fully engaged.
Here she is coming down the {huge} inflatable titanic slide.Weekends like that make the daily grind of trying to get a 6 year old to school and me to work on time while tripping all over my klutzy self, spilling coffee, and yelling at her to get her backpack and get out the door, all seem much more bearable.

♥ ♥ {LOVE} ♥ ♥

♥♥♥

There's nothing you can do that can't be done
Nothing you can sing that can't be sung
♥♥♥

♥♥♥
Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game
It's easy
♥♥♥

♥♥♥
There's nothing you can make that can't me made
No one you can save that can't be saved
♥♥♥

♥♥♥
Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time
It's easy
♥♥♥

♥All you need is love♥
♥All you need is love♥
♥All you need is love, love♥

♥♥♥
Love is all you need
♥Love, love, love♥
♥Love, love, love♥
♥Love, love, love♥

♥♥♥
There's nothing you can know that isn't known
Nothing you can see that isn't shown
There's nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be
It's easy
♥♥♥

♥♥♥
There's nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be
It's easy

♥♥♥

♥All you need is love♥
♥All you need is love♥
♥All you need is love, love♥

♥♥♥
Love is all you need
♥♥♥

All you need is love, all together now
All you need is love, everybody
All you need is love, love
Love is all you need
♥♥♥

Love is all you need
Love is all you need
Love is all you need

~Smooch~

T

(and The Beatles)

last 3 images via pinterest

A place to sit...

...dans mon orangerie.

Colette calls her sun room or conservatory, 'l'orangerie', so shall I.

Isn't her room divine?

That settee with the ticking fabric, the b/w checkerboard floor, the sunlight streaming in, the stacks of books, the fireplace, the cloches, and did I mention that settee?! ♥ ♥ ♥ it!!

Her room is perfection to me.

Mine, on the other hand, is still empty {here}.
I've started looking around but haven't seen anything fabulous just yet.
I saw this at Laurie's a few weeks ago:
But it's a bit too long.

Here are some others that appeal to me:
via bellapatina.com


And what have we here? This tufted cutie is the right price {here}, hmmm...
Maybe I'll find one at Urban Market Houston this weekend.

There are some beauties in their photos from past events.



I'm heading to Urban Market on Sunday morning so if you see me trying to stuff a settee in the back of my Volvo please stop and say 'hi', then give me a hand. ☺

::Happy Friday::

xo~
T

13.1 {times two}

I'm not a competitive person, but when I approached that finish line last week and saw the time display I felt a surge of competition with myself and the clock. Then I looked at my garmin and realized that my personal start time was 13 minutes later than the starting gun~ whew...relief, I completed my second half-marathon in 2 hours, 30 minutes~ 15 minutes less than the first time.

This made me happy. ☺

As I told you here, I'm also not an athletic person AT ALL, never have been, never will be.

But last year I set out to achieve this goal {here}, and now it's morphed into a twice a year thing. I figure if I register for a half marathon every 6 months, it will keep me training year round (January~ Houston/ July~ Napa)

I'm a very slow runner, but the goal for my second was to shave 30 minutes off my finishing time. The Houston half marathon was combined with the full marathon and there were about 30,000 runners out there. It wasn't until miles 4-5 that the crowd dissipated enough for me to run at my normal pace while trying to make up some time. The temps were in the 50s and it sprinkled the entire time, but it actually felt nice {until I stepped into a big puddle in the street and ran with one foot soaking wet for about 5 miles}.
A nice juicy burger, greasy fries and a bloody beer were part of my recovery effort. That healthy combo landed me on the couch for the rest of the day.
Now I'm back to training for the Napa 2 Sonoma in July again. It was much less crowded and far superior scenery than the city streets of Houston. Time to retire the Mizuno's, I can feel it in my legs.

Butterflies in tummy at 530am, cuing the adrenaline to kick in.


Bought these New shoes at the expo as motivation to keep me running right after the Houston half:
Something crazy came over me upon completing my second half marathon. I actually uttered these 10 words that I swore would never come out of my mouth~ "I think I might train for a full marathon now"...eek! Anyone out there with a full marathon under their belt or on their bucket list? Much advice and inspiration needed.

What goals have you reached thus far in 2011?